Posted by Jill in WV
on November 1, 2009, 3:00 pm
Lucy’s Bedtime Story
A victim of the stalled economy and corporate down-sizing, Lucy Tomaszewski (Pete the Sound-Guy’s older sister) has found herself in a most uncomfortable position – unemployed. Lucy has been a workaholic with high ambitions since she entered the job market, and enforced joblessness is a tough adjustment to make. In an effort to save her family some of the money she used to contribute, she volunteers to take on 100% of the child care duties for her small cousins, Michaela and Stevie.
But in doing so, she makes a discovery….
Stevie: Lucy! Where all my Hollow Weenie candy?
Lucy: I put it away for later, Stevie – I think you’ve already had enough for today. And what are you doing in your costume again? Halloween was two nights ago!
Michaela: Oh, you know how it is with little kids, Lucy. Stephanie will wear that thing until it’s worn out.
Stevie: STEVIE, not Steffnee!
Stevie: I needs my candy now, Lucy! I’m hungry!
Michaela: That’s what she used to say to Mommy.
Lucy: You might want it, Stevie, but you don’t need it. Especially now that you’ve already brushed your teeth to go to bed.
Michaela: Mommy used to say that, too.
Lucy: What do you say we put your toys away, get you two into your pajamas and I’ll tell you a story?
Stevie: Yay! A story! I wants a story!
Lucy: Then you will have to clean up your toys.
Stevie: I cleaning up, see?
Michaela: Will you tell the story, Lucy, or read it to us from a book?
Lucy: I think tonight I will tell you one… would you like that?
Michaela: Yes, please. I would like that very much.
Stevie: Lucy, are you our Mommy now?
Michaela: No, Stephanie, she is not our Mommy!
Stevie: STEVIE, not Steffnee!
Michaela: For your information, Stevie-not-Stephanie, our Mommy is still in the hospital – Lucy is just taking care of us until she gets better.
Lucy: That’s right, Stevie. Now, how about your bedtime story?
Lucy: There once was a little girl who only wanted one thing – she wanted to be a Mommy when she grew up. She wanted to have little girls and boys of her own, and a big, strong, handsome husband who would be their Daddy. She wanted to stay home with them and play with them all day long. She would bake cookies and read to them and take them to school every day when they were old enough to go. And she would love them more than anyone else in the whole world.
Lucy: Well, when this little girl was about twelve years old, her own Mommy went back to work, and the little girl had to help take care of her little brother and baby sister. But her brother and sister didn’t want her help, they wanted their Mommy to stay home with them, and they didn’t mind for their sister the way they did for their Mommy.
Michaela: Like Stevie won’t ever do what I say?
Lucy: A little like that, but this girl was older – old enough to watch them, and old enough not to need a babysitter herself…..
Lucy: So, anyway, the little girl, who wasn’t so little anymore, changed her mind. She decided she must have been wrong. Maybe she didn’t want to be a Mommy after all. Maybe she wouldn’t be any good at it. Maybe instead she would to get a job, work very hard, and become very, very rich. Maybe then she would live happily ever after.
Lucy: So she tried extra hard in all her schoolwork, and when she was all grown up, she got a wonderful job and started to make lots of money. She was so busy working and taking classes that she thought she was happy, but deep down in her heart she knew that she still wanted, someday, to be a Mommy.
Lucy: Then one day, she got her chance to be a Mommy. Not for her own children, but for two little girls who needed a Temporary Mommy. She was glad then that she didn’t have her job anymore, and that she was able to devote all day to taking care of the two little girls while they stayed with her.
Lucy: And she knows that when those two little girls return to their own Mommy, she will miss them very, very much. She knows now that what she wants most is her very own family, children…. and a Daddy for them all.
Michaela: *whispering because Stevie is asleep * It’s you, right?
Lucy: *in a quiet voice* The little girl in my story? Yes, it’s me.
Michaela: You like being our temporary Mommy?
Lucy: I love being your temporary Mommy.
Michaela: I love you, Lucy.
Lucy: *kisses Michaela* I love you, too, Michaela…..
Lucy: ……..So much.
Lucy: *bends and kisses, then whispers to the sleeping Stevie* And I love you, Stevie-Not-Stephanie.
